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UK government to block Scotland transgender rights bill

Nicola Sturgeon ‘will never apologize for trying to spread equality’

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(Photo by Rob Wilson via Bigstock)

In tersely worded public statements to the media and on Twitter, Scottish First Minster Nicola Sturgeon castigated the conservative government of U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for announcing Monday that Westminster would block Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill from being signed into law by King Charles III.

The Gender Recognition Reform Bill introduced by the Scottish government to Holyrood (Parliament) last spring was passed in a final 86-39 vote days before this past Christmas. The sweeping reform bill modifies the Gender Recognition Act, signed into law in 2004, by allowing transgender Scots to gain legal recognition without the need for a medical diagnosis.

The measure further stipulates that age limit for legal recognition is lowered to 16.

The U.K. Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, released a statement indicating that with the backing of 10 Downing Street, he will use a Section 35 order under the Scotland Act to block the king’s signature which is referred to as royal assent.

Under Section 35 of the Scotland Act, U.K. ministers can stop a bill getting royal assent. Jack can do so if he is of the opinion that a Holyrood bill would modify laws reserved to Westminster and have an “adverse effect” on how those laws apply.

“I have decided to make an order under Section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998, preventing the Scottish Parliament’s Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from proceeding to royal assent,” Jack said in a statement released Monday afternoon.

“After thorough and careful consideration of all the relevant advice and the policy implications, I am concerned that this legislation would have an adverse impact on the operation of Great Britain-wide equalities legislation. 

“Transgender people who are going through the process to change their legal sex deserve our respect, support and understanding. My decision today is about the legislation’s consequences for the operation of GB-wide equalities protections and other reserved matters. 

“I have not taken this decision lightly. The bill would have a significant impact on, amongst other things, GB-wide equalities matters in Scotland, England and Wales. I have concluded, therefore, that this is the necessary and correct course of action. 

“If the Scottish government chooses to bring an amended bill back for reconsideration in the Scottish Parliament, I hope we can work together to find a constructive way forward that both respects devolution and the operation of U.K. Parliament legislation. 

“I have written today to the first minister and the Scottish Parliament’s presiding officer informing them of my decision,” he said.

Holyrood Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh (Photo courtesy of Scottish Parliament)

The first minister has defended her government’s action on the GRA Reform legislation and speaking before the vote said that [she] “will never apologize for trying to spread equality.”

“Removing the need for medical diagnosis for a trans person who wants to legally change their gender is one of the purposes of this legislation because that is one of the most traumatic and dehumanising parts of the current system,” Sturgeon said.

Addressing the opposition and Tory arguments that the GRA reform bill harms women and girls the first minister said:

“As a woman, I know what it’s like to live with the fear at times of potential violence from men.

“I’m a feminist and I will do everything that I can to protect women’s rights for as long as live, but I also think it’s an important part of my responsibility to make life a little bit easier for stigmatised minorities in our country, to make their lives a bit better and remove some of the trauma they live with on a day-to-day basis and I think it is important to do that for the tiny minority of trans people in our society and I will never apologize for trying to spread equality, not reduce it, in our country.”

In London, U.K. equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has made it clear she is against reforms. Badenoch suggested the Scottish bill could have a detrimental impact on the rest of the U.K. because it would not be possible for the legislation to be “fully contained” within Scotland.

She addressed those concerns in a letter she sent to Sturgeon that was leaked to the Times last month.

Sturgeon said that she thinks it would be an “outrage” if the Tory-led government blocks the Scottish gender recognition bill, and will “embolden them” to block more bills, creating a “very slippery slope.”

“The Scottish government will defend the legislation and stand up for Scotland’s parliament,” she said adding, “If this Westminster veto succeeds, it will be the first of many.”

Sturgeon’s reference to the “slippery slope” details the rancor between Downing Street and Edinburgh over a proposed second referendum for Scottish independence. The referendum held in 2014 had failed by 55 percent to 45 percent, but things have changed since then, mostly because of Brexit. The Tory led U.K. government has repeatedly said it will not allow second referendum and this past November ruled the Scottish government cannot unilaterally hold a second independence referendum.

MSP Maggie Chapman, equalities spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, told PinkNews that the Tory government could “destroy devolution” if it tried to stop Scotland’s gender reform bill. She also warned that intervention could trigger a bitter legal battle.

“If they actually go through with their threat to either block the bill from receiving royal assent or block the implementation of it … I think that signals that this becomes about something much more than the issue of self-declaration — this becomes a constitutional crisis, I think,” Chapman told PinkNews.

Chapman also said she is “100 percent certain” that the Scottish government would challenge the decision in court, resulting in a legal war that could set precedent for other cases.

Pink News also reported that Jayne Ozanne, a former equalities advisor to the Tory government, said she “couldn’t believe” the prime minister had signed off on Section 35 being invoked “to undermine trans people’s rights.”

“This is a very dark day,” she said.

“The international community will be appalled. The LGBTQ+ community, alongside our friends and allies, will be furious and the British people will look on amazed.

“All will rightly wonder why [Sunak] has chosen to focus on one of the most marginalized and misunderstood groups in our society at a time of crisis in both our NHS (National Health Service) and public services.

“I believe it is the beginning of the end for the United Kingdom, and few will forgive him for it.”

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United Kingdom

UK Supreme Court rules legal definition of woman limited to ‘biological women’

Advocacy groups say decision is serious setback for transgender rights

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The U.K. Supreme Court (Photo by c_73/Bigstock)

The British Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled the legal definition of a woman is limited to “biological women” and does not include transgender women.

The Equality Act that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity took effect in 2010.

Scottish MPs in 2018 passed a bill that sought to increase the number of women on government boards. The Supreme Court ruling notes For Women Scotland — a “feminist voluntary organization which campaigns to strengthen women’s rights and children’s rights in Scotland” — challenged the Scottish government’s decision to include trans women with a Gender Recognition Certificate in its definition of women when it implemented the quota.

Stonewall U.K., a British advocacy group, notes a Gender Recognition Certificate is “a document that allows some trans men and trans women to have the right gender on their birth certificate.”

“We conclude that the guidance issued by the Scottish government is incorrect,” reads the Supreme Court ruling. “A person with a GRC (Gender Recognition Certificate) in the female gender does not come within the definition of ‘woman’ for the purposes of sex discrimination in section 11 of the EA (Equality Act) 2010. That in turn means that the definition of ‘woman’ in section 2 of the 2018 Act, which Scottish ministers accept must bear the same meaning as the term ‘woman’ in section 11 and section 212 of the EA 2010, is limited to biological women and does not include trans women with a GRC.”

The 88-page ruling says trans people “are protected by the indirect discrimination provisions” of the Equality Act, regardless of whether they have a Gender Recognition Certificate.

“Transgender people are also protected from indirect discrimination where they are put at a particular disadvantage which they share with members of their biological sex,” it adds.

Susan Smith, co-founder of For Women Scotland, praised the decision.

“Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex,” she said, according to the BBC. “Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the Supreme Court for this ruling.”

Author J.K. Rowling on X said it “took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court.”

“In winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK,” she added.

Advocacy groups in Scotland and across the U.K. said the ruling is a serious setback for trans rights.

“We are really shocked by today’s Supreme Court decision — which reverses 20 years of understanding on how the law recognizes trans men and women with Gender Recognition Certificates,” said Scottish Trans and the Equality Network in a statement posted to Instagram. “The judgment seems to have totally missed what matters to trans people — that we are able to live our lives, and be recognized, in line with who we truly are.”

Consortium, a network of more than 700 LGBTQ and intersex rights groups from across the U.K., in their own statement said it is “deeply concerned at the widespread, harmful implications of today’s Supreme Court ruling.”

“As LGBT+ organizations across the country, we stand in solidarity with trans, intersex and nonbinary folk as we navigate from here,” said Consortium.

The Supreme Court said its decision can be appealed.

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Current, former PinkNews staffers accuse publisher, husband of sexual harassment

CEO Anthony James suspended from NHS job after allegations became public

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Thirty-three current and former employees of an LGBTQ news website in the U.K. have accused its publisher and husband of sexual harassment and misconduct.

The BBC on Tuesday reported “several” former PinkNews staffers saw Chief Operating Officer Anthony James “kissing and touching a junior colleague who they saw appeared too drunk to consent” outside of a London pub after a company event.

James’s husband, Benjamin Cohen, founded PinkNews in 2005.

The BBC reported the current and former staffers with whom it spoke said “a culture of heavy drinking led to instances when” Cohen and James “behaved inappropriately towards younger male employees.”

Stephan Kyriacou, who worked at PinkNews from 2019-2021, told the BBC that Cohen slapped him on his butt at a Christmas party.

“I just shut down for a minute. I didn’t know what to say. I was in shock,” Kyriacou told the BBC. “I remember turning to my friends and saying, ‘What the hell just happened?'”

The BBC spoke with PinkNews staffers who said “they were shouted at and belittled by Mr. Cohen, and that there was a ‘toxic’ culture at the company. Others said they saw “misogynistic” behavior.

Neither Cohen, nor James spoke with the BBC. The Washington Blade has reached out to PinkNews for comment.

Media reports indicate Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS (National Health Service) Foundation suspended James, who is a doctor, from his job after the allegations against him and Cohen became public.

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Anti-LGBTQ UK Cabinet minister fired

Advocacy groups frequently criticized Suella Braverman

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Then-British Home Secretary Suella Braverman speaks at the American Enterprise Institute in D.C. on Sept. 26, 2023. (C-SPAN screenshot)

Suella Braverman, the controversial British Home Secretary who was fired by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a phone call Monday, fired back publicly Tuesday releasing a scathing three page resignation letter accusing Sunak of “not having a plan” and failing to deliver promises made to the British people on among other items, hot button immigration and crime prevention issues.

Braverman took office in October 2022 as home secretary while Sunak formed a new government after former British Prime Minister Liz Truss stepped down on her 50th day in office amid a government crisis, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.

The former home secretary was known for her far-right conservative views and in the past year had made a series of public comments in speeches and in the press that derided LGBTQ people, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. Her remarks disparaging transgender British females oft times echoes similar sentiments stated publicly by the prime minister. 

This past June at a Conservative Party conference, the prime minster was caught on a video clearly mocking trans females. 

The prime minster makes reference to an opposition leader, although that person is not clearly identified. Sunak then took aim at Edward Jonathan Davey, a British politician who has served as leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020.

“Over the same period of time, you might have noticed Ed Davey has been very busy,” Sunak says. “Like me, you can probably see that he was trying to convince everybody that women clearly had penises. You’ll all know that I’m a big fan of everybody studying maths to 18, but it turns out that we need to focus on biology.”

A recent YouGov UK international online research data and analytics technology group poll conducted earlier this month found that 49 percent of British voters wanted Braverman sacked. 

PinkNewsUK reported calls for Sunak to fire Braverman have gotten louder over the course of last week, after she hit out at peaceful pro-Palestine protesters labeling their marches in London as “hate marches” and she also accused the Metropolitan Police of bias, which officers have said sparked far-right attacks on members of the force.

On issues over LGBTQ Britons, the former home secretary in October said that trans women should not be treated in female hospital wards. In an interview with Sky News, she said: “Trans women have no place in women’s wards or, indeed, any safe space relating to biological women.”

“The health secretary’s [Steve Barclay] absolutely right to clarify and make it clear that biological men should not have treatment in the same wards and in the same safe spaces as biological women,” she said. “This is about protecting women’s dignity, safety and privacy and that’s why I’m incredibly supportive.”

In September, in her speech to the American Enterprise Institute, a right wing think-tank in D.C., Braverman on the subject of political asylum remarked: “Where individuals are being persecuted, it is right that we offer sanctuary. But we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if, in effect, simply being gay or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin, is sufficient to qualify for protection.” 

In an interview with PinkNewsUK after her speech in D.C., Sebastian Rocca, the founder and chief executive of LGBTQ asylum charity Micro Rainbow, believes Braverman is trying to scapegoat migrants.

“The comments made by the home secretary are deeply disturbing,” he said. “LGBTQI people often face death, imprisonment and violence. When they come to the UK to seek safety, they have to go through an asylum system that is re-traumatizing and dehumanizing. In addition, the standard of proof is very high.”

“The system, as it is, is incredibly difficult. These comments seek to scapegoats migrants and LGBTQI people for political gain once again,” he added.

A new dynamic in attitude towards the UK’s LGBTQ community?

In addition to sacking Braverman, the prime minster radically overhauled his team in the Cabinet reshuffle including adding former Prime Minister David Cameron as the new British foreign secretary.

James Cleverly, whose job Cameron took over, was named as home secretary. His positions on most LGBTQ issues is in line with the Tory Party generally, however PinkNewsUK noted that while Cleverly has never voted on same-sex marriage, he expressed his support for equality in a blog post first published in 2005 titled “I like marriage.”

“Gay ‘marriage’ takes nothing away from heterosexual marriage and while there will be some civil partnerships which are done for the wrong reasons the same can be said of straight marriage. Best of luck I say,” he wrote.

He has also expressed support for LGBTQ inclusive education and for LGBTQ people in the military, but he did face some criticism when he said gay football fans would have to be “respectful” when traveling to Qatar for the World Cup.

Overall the British LGBTQ publication reported, is that the new home secretary is “an obvious step up from Braverman.”

Cameron’s record on LGBTQ rights, especially while serving as prime minister, PinkNewsUK reported has been favorable. He voted in favor of civil partnerships in 2004 and in favor of the Equality Act in 2007, and later voted in favor of same-sex marriage.

Former Health Secretary Steve Barclay’s departure is a relief for some LGBTQ Brits, especially in light of his recent campaign against trans people in the British healthcare system. 

In a speech at the Conservative Party conference in October, Barclay spoke out about his plans to introduce “sex-specific” language throughout the health service when referring to treatments and advice for menopause and some types of cancer. In the same speech, he announced plans to ban trans people from single-sex wards.

However Barclay’s replacement has had a troubling record on transgender healthcare issues. In 2018, Atkins, who was then minister for women, was criticized when she called for “caution” before treating young trans people in an interview with the Telegraph.

“The treatments are so serious and life-changing. I’m a little cautious of the use of those treatments because of the potential for the rest of their lives,” she said.

The prime minster is also facing renewed calls and anger over the omission of announcing a ban on conversion therapy in the King’s Speech. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has been urging Sunak to uphold a pledge to enact a ban on the discredited practice.

The BBC reported that earlier this year the EHRC wrote to the government to urge them to include the legislation in the speech, which sets out the government’s priorities for the coming years.

A spokesperson for EHRC told the BBC: “We have long supported proposals to end these practices. Conversion practices, aimed at changing someone’s sexual orientation or personal understanding of their own gender, can be incredibly harmful to people with the protected characteristics of sexual orientation and gender reassignment.

We will continue to stand ready to provide expert advice and hope the government will uphold its commitment to ban harmful conversion practices.”

Its lack of inclusion in the King’s Speech is thought to be over disagreements within the Conservative Party the BBC noted regarding what form a ban should take, and concerns over how it could impact freedom of expression around issues such as gender identity, as well as any potential impact on religious freedoms.

Robbie de Santos, director of external affairs at Stonewall UK, told the BBC: “[The government] has given the green light for the abuse against LGBTQ+ people to continue unchecked. Rather than getting mired in a cynical cultural war, it should be making decisions based on what the evidence and expertise said.”

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